Amid Washington’s signals to Jerusalem that U.S. President Donald Trump is interested in renewing the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the annual Arab League summit was opened today by Jordan’s King Abdullah, who sent a clear message to Trump ahead of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ upcoming trip to Washington.

Amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to please Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are possibly renewed, King Abdullah II of Jordan sent a clear message to Washington.

The Jordanian king said as he opened the annual Arab League summit on Wednesday that peace will not be achieved in the Middle East if a Palestinian state is not created. “We won’t allow the division of Al-Aqsa,” continued the Jordanian king. “We will maintain our hold on it and follow what is happening.” Regarding the Israeli construction in the West Bank, he said that it threatens the prospects of peace: “Israel continues to expand the settlements and this harms the prospects of reaching an agreement.”

The Arab leaders are meeting today in a building in Jordan just east of the Dead Sea that overlooks the West Bank. Among the leaders who are attending the summit are Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, UAE Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Iraqi Foreign Minster Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Abbas.

According to an AP report, the Arab League leaders are planning to adopt the Palestinians’ main conditions for future peace negotiations during the summit. The Arab leaders are expected to dedicate a considerable amount of the summit’s focus to the Palestinian question ahead of Abbas’ trip to Washington next week. The leaders’ expected adoption of the core conditions of the Palestinian Authority is an attempt to show that the end of the conflict and the establishment of a Palestinian state are non-negotiable preconditions for any normalization effort between Israel and the Arab world.

Yesterday evening, JOL News reported that in recent days, Trump has been vigorously courting after Abbas. Hidden within this courtship is a message from the U.S. to Israel that Trump is very serious about advancing a peace process with the Palestinians in the near future.